Tribune opinion: Weld County commissioners should allow voters the chance to disband the County Council, regardless of how bad it looks

Jeff Weller, left, and James Weller get ready to pay as a line behind them growsearlier this year at the Weld County Clerk and Recorders Office, 1402 N 17th Ave. in Greeley.Tribune File Photo | The Greeley Tribune

EDITORIAL BOARD

The Tribune Editorial Board decides and writes the Tribune Opinion. Its members are:

» Bryce Jacobson, publisher

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» Randy Bangert, editor and editorial page editor

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» Jerry Martin, copy desk chief and sports editor

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» Bart Smith, general manager

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» Nate A. Miller, local news and social media editor

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» Dan England, features editor

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» Kelly Geary, digital marketing project manager

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» Amy Mayer, creative supervisor

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It makes us squirm to say this, but we agree with the Weld County commissioners’ decision to consider a question on the ballot that would dissolve the Weld County Council.

We’ve disagreed with the commissioners on some decisions they’ve made, and this one especially makes us want a shower. Yes, we’re agreeing the commissioners should take the step to disband a board designed to oversee them, just as the council is releasing an audit of them.

Yes, we know how bad this looks. And yet, the fact we still support the action should tell you all you need to know about the council.

We have a question: If a council is incompetent, is it really overseeing anything? We don’t think so.

We’ve called for a vote to disband the council for months now, after the council made us suffer through a long, embarrassing delay of an audit of the Weld Clerk and Recorder’s Office. Residents requested the audit after the office seemed to be a mess of long wait times and poor management. The county council, after many months, instead decided to focus on the commissioners, and then agreed to audit the clerk’s office only if the commissioners were involved.

The council meetings tend to be dramatic and a waste of time and taxpayer money.

This is a real problem. We wonder if residents haven’t challenged the commissioners enough on their own many problems because it’s the council’s job. We also wonder if the circus makes a joke of what should be a serious way to hold the commissioners accountable.

The council is doing more harm than good, in other words, by fumbling around at its job.

We’d rather hand that oversight to the regulations that govern our state and the residents who vote for our commissioners. Residents should speak up in meetings and promise to vote for their opponents if they don’t agree with what’s going on.

The council has had many chances to prove its worth, and it had a task with its long-overdue audit. It failed at both. As bad as it looks, we hope voters take a thoughtful look at what the council has achieved and then reach the same conclusions we have.